Flooded hiking trails reopen for use

Some popular metro trails are opening again after heavy rains and flooding put them off limits to hikers.

At Fort Snelling State Park, access roads to the park's Pike Island and Picnic Island have been submerged for most of the year. Workers are checking on the two low-lying areas which dried out Monday night. The roads will open once the remaining silt has been removed and the trails are deemed safe.

Park naturalist Linda Radimecky said it's unusual for flooding to run this late in the year.

"We've been in high water for five months," she said. "If we get another big rainstorm it's not going to take too much to flood that access point, because the river banks are just full."

In St. Paul, flooding has affected parts of trails at Hidden Falls and Crosby parks. Over the weekend at the Minnehaha dog park in Minneapolis, dogs and humans waded through high water along a popular trail near the Mississippi River.

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